


I Can Hardly Wait

by abi_lynne



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Angst, Carry On Countdown (Simon Snow), Family, Family Angst, Father-Son Relationship, Mother-Son Relationship, Post-Canon, Post-Watford (Simon Snow)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 08:50:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16850959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abi_lynne/pseuds/abi_lynne
Summary: Simon is cleaning out the Mage's old office when he comes across something unexpected. Carry On Countdown day 10: angst. Enjoy!





	I Can Hardly Wait

They’d been cleaning out the Mage’s office. After they’d combed through it for secrets and wards, Headmistress Bunce had decided that it was Simon’s decision if he wanted any of it salvaged. No one else had been close to the Mage, in any sense of the word, and Simon thought it might give him some closure, so he said yes. He hadn’t even been thinking about the Mage’s past. The secrets he might uncover. But the photograph in his hands was real. It was uncovered. And there was no going back now.

Simon felt his eyes well up with tears. He never thought he’d know who his mother was, much less what she looked like. He gripped the photograph tightly as his shoulders began to shake. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around himself, overcome with mourning for this person that he never knew. Never got the chance to know. Her light curls and smiling, freckled face stared up at him when he took another glance, and another round of sobs wracked his body. He couldn’t decide whether to keep the photo forever or tear it into a million pieces.

He heard Baz come in and kept his head tucked into his knees. He was embarrassed, for one, but he also didn’t know what to say. How to process – this. All this bloody information.

“Simon?” Baz sounded scared, a little frantic. “Simon, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” Simon felt Baz kneel down beside him and put his arm around him. Still crying, although less now, Simon held out the photograph without looking up.

Baz took it, his face crumpling, sadness for Simon overtaking any curiosity he possessed. He asked anyway, “Si, is this… I mean, it’s… are you sure it’s her?”

“Turn it over.” Simon’s voice was thick with tears and he made no attempt to move.

Baz did – and on the back, in large, messy handwriting, were the words, ‘Photographed by Davy during my second trimester. I can hardly wait for him to arrive. -Lucy’

“It was in his journal,” Simon finally looked up, his tear-stained face meeting Baz’s sorrowful eyes. “Her name was Lucy. My mum’s name was Lucy.” His voice broke on the last word and he began to cry again, reaching out and clutching Baz as his body shook.

Baz wrapped his arms around the blue-eyed boy, tearing up in empathy, “Oh, Simon.”


End file.
